Can anyone halt Spain’s hold on the women’s Ballon d’Or?
When the women's Ballon d'Or is presented on Monday night, Alexia Putellas is the favourite to win the trophy for a third time as Spanish players — led by Putellas and Aitana Bonmati — have collected four of the last five awards and Bonmati is sidelined by a serious leg injury sustained on international duty in November 2025.
Barcelona’s club and Spain’s national team success underpin the nomination list: Putellas, now a London City Lionesses forward, captained Barcelona in May to a quadruple that included a third Champions League in four years and a seventh consecutive Liga F title, while Spain were World Cup winners in 2023, Euro 2025 runners-up to England and Nations League winners last December after beating Germany.
Putellas ended Barcelona's season with 21 goals and 13 assists and already possesses 38 trophies; she won the Ballon d'Or in 2021 and 2022 and is widely regarded as the frontrunner for this year’s prize.
Spanish football expert Guillem Balague expressed strong support for Putellas, saying: "Give it to her!" and adding, "Along with Marta, she is the best player in history. No doubt she was the best player in this campaign – and she won everything!"
Spain have six players on the 30-strong shortlist — more than any other nation — and eight of the starting XI from the Champions League final are among the nominees, including Claudia Pina (who recently scored four against Real Madrid), goalkeeper Cata Coll and midfielder Patri Guijarro.
Khadija Shaw is the leading alternative to the Spanish candidates after scoring 21 league goals last season to help Manchester City to their first title in a decade and adding five goals in the FA Cup as City completed the double; Shaw has been the WSL's top scorer for the past three seasons, has scored 90 goals since arriving in summer 2021 and signed a four-year contract in June. Former England striker Ellen White said: "We haven't had a major tournament but there are some amazing players on the list," and added, "I would love to see Shaw up there - brilliant goalscoring." City supply five players to the shortlist — they had none last season — but the club's absence from last season's Champions League is noted as a potential disadvantage for their candidates.
Arsenal's Alessia Russo, who finished second to Shaw for goals in the league and scored nine Champions League goals, placed third in last year's Ballon d'Or behind Bonmati and Mariona Caldentey following Arsenal's Champions League win in May 2025; Arsenal's exit to Lyon in the semi-finals this year may weaken Russo's chances.
Poland's Ewa Pajor is another contender from Barcelona after scoring 11 goals in 10 Champions League appearances, including a hat-trick in the final against Lyon; she won the Women's Gerd Müller trophy for top scorer last season and finished eighth in the overall rankings.
The Ballon d'Or covers the period "from 3 August 2025 until 19 July 2025" and the winner is decided by selected international journalists — one from each nation in the top 50 of the Fifa world rankings — who rank their top 10 candidates with points awarded on a descending scale; the ceremony is being held during the domestic calendar this year, though the lack of players from the NWSL remains an acknowledged criticism.